A plea for PLR

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author, library, PLR, Public Lending Right, writing

Twice a year, my Twitter feed is inundated with cheery messages from other authors, along the lines of “Just received my PLR cheque – £129 for my loans this year!” and “I love PLR – cheers for my cheque!”.  For the uninitiated, PLR stands for Public Lending Right, and it is a small payment made to authors (and illustrators, editors, translators and audiobook narrators) whenever a book is borrowed from a UK library.  At the moment, if their book is borrowed the author is given 11.26p.  The money is handy, of course (an annual cap of £6,600 is set so that the most popular authors don’t run off with millions) but what is really exciting is seeing your books being borrowed.  Or I imagine it is really exciting.  For I have yet to benefit.  Let me explain.

Despite the availability these days of extremely accurate borrowing data, PLR is still calculated on a old-fashioned method, using loans data from a sample of thirty regional library authorities (there are 151 in total) which is then multiplied to provide a national estimate.  I have donated the Sam books liberally to my various local libraries – but they are all in the Cambridgeshire library authority.  Which was last part of the PLR sample in 2010.  This means that the PLR scheme, by not looking at Cambridgeshire, knows nothing about my books and so does not include them in its calculations.  Sadly, the sample proposed for the year ending June 2022 does not include Cambridgeshire, and nor does the one ending June 2023.  I have written to the PLR people a few times, asking why – given that all libraries these days keep digital records of loans – they can’t simply use complete data rather than a sample, but they’re not keen.  I’ve blogged about this before, way back in 2015, but nothing has changed since then.

So here is my plea.  If you are a library user, please ask your library to stock books by your favourite authors – which may even include me.  The more widely our books are stocked, the more likely we are to be lucky enough to get into that PLR sample and therefore become eligible for a share of the pot.  You can check here to see whether your local library authority is part of next year’s sample group – yes, that’s you, Suffolk, Camden, Oxfordshire and Cornwall, for instance.  And it’s not just about the money: I dream of the day when I receive a PLR statement showing that people are borrowing my books because I know how much I love libraries, and what a thrill it can be to find a favourite author’s back catalogue just waiting for you to borrow, or to discover a previously-unknown author whom you grow to love.

Project Bleurgh

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Alison Flood, author, blogging, David Gaughran, Guardian, Marian Keyes, Plank 7, plotting, writer's block, writing

To add to my seemingly endless list of things about which I should feel guilty, I have added “not writing regularly enough on my writing blog”.  I started it with one aim in mind: to describe the ups and downs of the processes of writing and self-publishing.  But since, well, you know what I’m talking about, things have ground almost to a halt.  I have good days – that weekend immersed in old newspapers was a corker – but the default setting seems to be “meh”.  I’ve been kicking myself about it, as the set-up is theoretically brilliant.  I can’t go anywhere or meet anyone (and have no children to home-school) so I have long stretches of time that I could fill with writing.  But I just can’t get myself going.  And – thankfully – it seems that I am not alone.

In her most recent newsletter to readers – which you can subscribe to here – the fabulous and perennially bouncy author Marian Keyes admitted to her own low mood: “And it’s been interesting (one way of looking at it 😉) how I (and I think lots of others) are coping: I’m no longer angry or hopeful or anything really, instead I seem to have managed to muffle most of my emotions and have selected a state of joyless low-level-depressed endurance as my default setting.”

I am a great fan of David Gaughran, who produces marvellous tutorials on self-publishing, and he too has been hit by the bleurghs: “More serious, is that I’ve been unable to read a novel for around a year.  I just can’t focus on it.  I can gobble up non-fiction, dry marketing posts, technical guides – it’s really bizarre.  But give me a good novel and I’ll struggle…. Definitely more concerning again is the effect this has had on my fiction writing.  I’m sure these two things are linked, but I’ve really been finding it difficult to make any progress on a number of overdue fiction projects.  The words are less of a flowing river and more of a dripping faucet.  They are coming… but… in… the… most… annoying… manner… possible.”

And perhaps the best description I have read of the whole sorry situation, which stifles creativity and makes us feel even more guilty about wasting time, was this piece by Alison Flood in the Guardian, called – perfectly – “Writer’s blockdown”.  In it, she pinpoints the heart of the problem: to write, particularly fiction, we need both internal mental space and external stimulation.  My mind buzzes with anxiety, like low-level tinnitus – it fills up every space, unless I distract myself with utterly mindless telly (I’m re-watching my “Dallas” DVDs – that’s how mindless I need to be).  And as for the external stimulation, well, what can I say?  I’ve been nowhere and seen no-one.  (Each day my biggest decision is: shall I do the boring walk or the tedious walk or the familiar walk or the quick walk?)  I meet no-one new and see nothing new – so external stimulation is a goner.

Dismal though that all is, I do take comfort from knowing that I am not alone and that many other writers are battling the same inertia.  But the schools have gone back today (I’m in the UK) and my husband is getting his jab next week (I’m a couple of years younger so won’t be far behind) and the daffodils are out, so I feel the stirrings of optimism.  And once I can move more freely and think about something other than a virus, “Plank 7” will be back on track.

My flexible festival

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ALLi, Alliance of Independent Authors, author, festival, marketing, promotion, research, Twitter

It’s raining cats and dogs and we’re still under lock-down (at least here in the UK), which gives me the perfect excuse to stay indoors all day and “attend” not one but two virtual book festivals.  I wasn’t sure to begin with but now I’m a real convert: I don’t have to pay for travel or accommodation, and I can still see everyone even if I can’t meet them in person (plus I get to nose around their backgrounds and bookshelves).  Moreover, with Zoom and the like, we audience members can ask questions via the chat facility, which is actually a fairer system: you don’t have to wave your arm madly to catch the moderator’s eye – we’re all equally visible to the chat bar.

So far today I have heard talks by Elizabeth Buchan, Debbie Young, A A Abbott, Orna Ross, Joanna Penn, Jo Ullah and Kate Mosse, and I still have four more sessions to look forward to – what bounty!  I have been scribbling notes like a demon, recording a mixture of inspiration (Elizabeth Buchan: be patient – allow the batteries to recharge and the ideas to percolate), writing skills (Kate Mosse: create a strong historical scaffolding for your characters and let them loose within it to choose their own story) and practicalities (Orna Ross: every author needs a premium product – it is very hard to make a living just from books and Joanna Penn: look at your books’ reviews to find the right language to use in your promotional material and ads).  I’m fizzing, I tell you.  And the one concrete thing I have done between sessions is to create anew the @ConstablePlank twitter handle that I had abandoned.  It’s not quite the right handle, now that Gregory Hardiman is making himself known, but it will do for now – and at least I can follow other inspirational people and get these posts promoted a little more widely.

And to complete the festival experience, I grabbed a quick pizza for lunch between sessions and pretended there was a queue for the loo.

Vanity, thy name is Susan

Tags

author, author talks, Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, HULF, indie publishing, marketing, self-publishing

On Saturday I spent the day as a speaker and an audience member at the quite unique Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival.  It was launched in 2015 by my indie publishing heroine and friend (now that I have met her in person) Debbie Young, and apparently goes from strength to strength.  What is most unusual about it is that it is free.  There is no booking and nothing to pay – you simply turn up and go along to the things that interest you.  Hawkesbury Upton is a lovely village near Badminton in Gloucestershire and it is blessed with both a variety of public spaces that serve beautifully as book festival venues, and a resident population that seems happy to turn out in force to support the HULF.

As an author, I took part in a panel discussion on the theme of “Writing Influenced by the Day Job”.  The panel was chaired by an accountant and the featured authors were a military nurse, a commodities trader and an anti-money laundering obsessive.  And as a bookworm, I attended panels on the themes of “Around the World in 8-ish Books” and “The Best of British”, as well as a handy session offering some self-publishing marketing advice and a fascinating insight by a chap who is writing the “Oxford English Dictionary” (not single-handedly).  The 2020 HULF is already being planned, so get the date in your diary right now.

Between bookish matters I succumbed to vanity and attended a photo shoot with a photographer who specialises in portraits, e.g. the moody author ones you see on book covers.  I took the precaution of washing my hair and applying clear mascara – that’s about as much as I did on my wedding day, as I’m not very cosmetic-ky – and toddled along to look both moody and authorly.  From the selection I was sent I have narrowed it down to two contenders for my official author image to go on book covers, magazine articles, Booker Prize publicity materials, etc.  Which do you prefer?  (I have them both in black and white as well, but I thought you might like to see what I wore to be bookish.)

 

Sam’s on the shortlist!

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author, BookBrunch, Faith Hope and Trickery, historical fiction, London Book Fair, Samuel Plank, The Selfies

What a day!  I have received notification that “Faith, Hope and Trickery” has been shortlisted for the inaugural Selfies Award, which I entered back in December.  It’s one of eight books in the running and the winner will be announced at the London Book Fair on 12 March 2019.  I had already booked my ticket for that day, as I’ve never been to the LBF before (I want to walk around with “Author” on my ID badge), and I wanted to support the Selfies even if I was not personally involved.  But now I will be – great excitement!

Today’s press release  from the awards organiser – BookBrunch – is most flattering.  It says that we shortlist nominees were selected from “exceptional works of self-published fiction” and “can confidently stand against the very best fiction being published in the UK today”.

Looking at the shortlist, we’re all women.  Two books are pure crime and two are historical (mine included).  Bizarrely, one is about money laundering and one is about cycling (written by a woman who lives in Cambridge) – and neither of those is mine!  That prize ceremony is going to be an interesting gathering…

The Fussy Librarian interviews the Very Grateful Author

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author, blogging, e-book, interview, sales, The Fussy Librarian

Heavens, the speed of modern communication quite dazzles me at times!  Less than twenty-four hours ago I indulged myself by replying to a very interesting email questionnaire sent to me by Sadye of the Fussy Librarian website.  This website is a big deal in the e-book world, as it (to quote its own description) “is the first website to match readers not only with the genre of books they like but also their preferences about content… We also only bother with the good stuff so you know you’ll see great reads every time you open our daily email.”

So you can imagine that I was delighted to be asked to take part in their regular “author Q&A” feature.  I expected it to sit around for a while, waiting its turn – but no!  It’s there today!  I’ll let you know if I see a spike in sales in the Des Moines area.  (Only kidding – I can’t track purchases that closely.  At least not legally.)

Starving in a garret

Tags

ALCS, author, Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society, earnings, library, money, writing

I am a – very proud – member of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, which was set up in 1977 to collect and distribute to authors the money they are due from “secondary uses” of their work (such as when schools photocopy books, or libraries lend books).  Apart from this sterling work, the ALCS also works as a campaigning organisation to promote the right of authors to be treated – and paid – as professionals.  And they have recently published the findings of their survey “Authors’ Earnings 2018: A survey of UK writers”.  Although I am only a part-time writer I submitted my information – and awaited the results with trepidation (as, of course, I hope one day to become a full-time author).  This may be an unrealistic dream…

Some highlights – or rather, lowlights:

• the median annual income of a professional writer in the UK is now less than £10,500 [in 2017, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation declared that the income level considered to be a socially acceptable standard of living for a single person, was £17,900]
• based on a standard 35-hour week, this works out at £5.73 per hour [the current UK minimum wage for those over 25 is £7.83]
• if you take into account all writers – part-time and occasional as well as professional – the median annual income is a measly £3,000
• in 2005, 40% of professional writers earned their income solely from writing – in 2017, it was just 13.7% [as earnings from writing fall, professional writers need to supplement their income with other activities such as teaching, editing, etc.]
• but the creative industries in the UK are now valued at £92 billion and are growing at twice the rate of the UK economy as a whole – which suggests that the contribution of writers is being significantly undervalued.

Rather depressing, isn’t it?  I’m very lucky in that I can afford to do my writing as a rather expensive and time-consuming hobby, but can you imagine a society where no-one can afford to be a writer?  So come on: buy those books, go to those readings, write those reviews – and hug an author!

Sign of the times

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author, Authorgraph, dedication, Fatal Forgery, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

Always on the lookout for marketing and promotional ideas, I have come across an interesting service called Authorgraph.  In short, it enables people to get author dedications and signatures for their e-books.  I have registered my three current Sam Plank novels with them, and put their widget on this blog, over there to the left, so anyone who has signed up (for free) to Authorgraph can make a request for their e-book to be signed by me.  I have done an on-screen version of my signature and to that can add a short dedication.  The reader is then sent (according to the Authorgraph FAQ) “an email with links to download a PDF version (viewable in applications like iBooks) or an AZW version (viewable in all Kindle apps on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, etc.)” of their requested Authorgraph.  It’s a fun idea, and a very pretty website.

Sam practises his alphabet

Tags

Alderney Literary Festival, author, blogging, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat

The life of a writer (or at least the part-time life of a part-time writer) is an odd one: you spend hours and hours alone, talking only to the people in your head, and then you realise that, in order to sell books, you’re going to have to communicate with other people.  And some of the friendliest you can meet are other authors.  I had a whale of a time a fortnight ago at the Alderney Literary Festival, where I found that other – professional – authors are so generous with their time and their expertise and their suggestions.  And now, for the whole of April, I am joining another community of authors via Helen Hollick’s A-Z Blogging Challenge.

This A-Z Blogging Challenge has been running since 2010, and in short bloggers are challenged to blog every day in April (except Sundays) on an A to Z theme.  Helen Hollick is a prolific and wonderful blogger on the theme (among many others) of historical fiction – she’s an author herself, so knows whereof she writes.  And she has taken up the A-Z gauntlet this year by asking her writing friends to allow their leading characters to be interviewed by her.  I’m involved because she chose Sam to be interviewed for the letter C (“The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”).

Today is the big launch day, and Helen’s first post – letter A – is an interview with Aurelia, the title character from the novel by Alison Morton.  It’s not a book I have read, but Aurelia sounds a hoot and I’m off to buy it right now!  Tomorrow it will be… well, I can’t give away all of our secrets, can I, but the letter B will be much in evidence.  Helen will take a well-deserved rest on Sunday, and then on Monday, it’s Sam’s turn to be grilled.  He’s more used to asking the questions, so this will be quite an experience for him.

A Topping evening

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author, Fatal Forgery, launch, Martha Plank, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Toppings, Worm in the Blossom

I told you a while ago that I had managed to persuade Topping & Co Booksellers in Ely to allow me to have a sort-of-launch event for “Worm in the Blossom” at their shop.  I drove over there on Sunday to (a) check that they hadn’t thought better of it, and (b) deliver some books for the event.  And look what was outside the shop:

Yes, that’s my name up there with some big hitters – although of course the really big draws are put on in the cathedral (seats 1,230… perhaps a little ambitious at this stage in my writing career).  But very exciting to find that I am part of a Literary Festival.

And so to last night.  I made some little flash cards for myself, to remind me of the main topics to cover – Toppings had asked me to speak for forty minutes about the novels themselves and the self-publishing process in general, to be followed by twenty minutes of questions.  But in the end I hardly referred to the cards at all – once I’m talking about Sam, it’s hard to stop me.  There was a good turnout:

What you can’t see are about four people sitting behind the photographer (husband, lured along with promises of post-talk pizza), and another half-dozen sitting on the steps to my right.  The man in charge said he was surprised at the large numbers, so that’s promising.  And people were so interested and asked so many questions – it was a sheer delight.  One of the oddest sensations was meeting strangers – as opposed to friends and family who read the books out of love – who had chosen to read the Sam books and came along to tell me that they enjoyed them and to ask really detailed questions about the plots and characters.  It made me feel, possibly for the first time, like a real, commercial author – writing books for sale to the general public.  And as I was leaving, the organiser said that they would like to book me for the launch of “Plank 4”, so I’d better get writing…